2011-2012 Season

HSPAA Presents...

2012 Howe Sound Music Festival

The 11th annual Howe Sound Music Festival kicks off Tuesday, April 10, 2012. The 6-Day event features piano, voice, and choral students and takes place in both Squamish and Whistler. Professional adjudicators, Arne Sahlen (piano) and Megan Skidmore (voice/choral) will listen to the variety of performances and provide valuable feedback to enhance the students' musical growth. Students from Britannia Beach to Pemberton have been working with local teachers for months, perfecting their pieces.

This year has seen substantial growth with nearly 20% more participants over last year. There is also significant increase in the number of music teachers enrolling their students and, interestingly, the number of adult participants.

The local Festival, produced by the Howe Sound Performing Arts Association, provides children, youth, and adults with valuable performance opportunities. Students also receive a certificate giving them a Bronze, Silver, or Gold placement. Everyone is a winner! The Festival culminates with a Highlights Concert on Sunday, April 15 at 3:00 PM at St. John the Divine Anglican Church in Squamish. The concert features Gold performances from the week, as well as scholarship announcements and recommendations to the Provincial Music Festival. A pre-concert reception at 2:30 PM celebrates the achievements of all the participants.

Every session is open to the public for only $3 each. Tickets for the Highlights Concert are $10 [Festival participants free with Competitor Card], but best value is a Festival Pass for $15, providing unlimited entry to all sessions and the Highlights Concert.

For more information on the Festival, to volunteer, or become a sponsor, please visit www.musicfestivalweb.com/hsmf or contact Executive Director, Veronica McPhee at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Madeline Hildebrand - Master Class

Saturday Feb. 25, 2012, 2-4pm
Eight piano students from Squamish & Whistler will have the opportunity to participate in a Master Class with Pianist Madeline Hildebrand. These students are levels 6 to 8 following the Royal Conservatory of Music repertoire. In addition these students will be participating in the upcoming Howe Sound Music Festival taking place in April. Each student will have fifteen minutes to perform their memorized piece and then workshop with Hildebrand.
The Master Class will be held at Squamish Academy of Music (SAM) 38121 Second Avenue, Squamish, at 2 pm. Audience is welcome by donation at the door.

Inspiration 2012

When

Sunday, Jan. 22 at 2pm

Where

St. John The Divine Anglican Church

Tickets

Admission by Donation, Proceeds to go the Howe Sound Music Festival*

Description

Don't miss Inspiration, a concert benefiting the *Howe Sound Music Festival. This hour-long recital provides an engaging variety of music from music teachers and past HSMFestival success stories. Children, students, and music lovers of all ages are sure to enjoy the vocal and instrumental selections spanning classical, musical theatre and jazz genres.

*Now in its 11th year, the Howe Sound Music Festival is produced by the Howe Sound Performing Arts Association. The adjudicated music festival is open to residents in the Howe Sound Corridor. This year’s festival will take place April 10-15, 2012. For more information, check out www.musicfestivalweb.com/hsmf or call Executive Director, Veronica McPhee at 604 892 7819.

Madeline Hildebrand - In Concert

When

Sun. Feb. 26, 2012
Piano Concert: 2 PM

Where

St. John The Divine Anglican Church

Tickets

Adults: $15 /
Students: Free with a Ticket

In 2001 during the inception of Howe Sound Music Festival, Madeline along with her parents were given the opportunity to visit Squamish. Her parents are Ed & Millie Hildebrand who back in 2001 were the Piano, Choral, Vocal & Band adjudicators. Eleven years later we are delighted to invite Madeline back to Squamish to perform IN CONCERT - this will be an exciting musical treat. Her program includes pieces by Samuel Barber , Franz Liszt, Franz Schubert , John Corigliano and Alexander Scriabin.

Kelly Coubrough and Laurel Parsons In Concert

When

Where

Quest University, Multi Purpose Room

Tickets

Adults & Seniors: $20
All Students by Donation
Available At:
Billies Bouqet
Quest University Main Office

About

Kelly Coubrough - Soprano

Kelly Coubrough has experience in many genres of music including opera, new music, and musical theatre. In January and October 2010, she performed in a newly composed touring opera The Lives of Lesser Things by Isaiah Bell in Alberta. Kelly is in her seventh season with the Vancouver Opera Company chorus, and has been a featured soloist with various choirs including the Whistler Singers, the Sea-to-Sky Singers, the Durham Philharmonic Choir and, most recently with the Vancouver Bach Choir and Orchestra at the Orpheum in Vancouver, BC. Kelly played the role of Cassie in the Squamish, B.C. production of A Chorus Line, and she sang the role of Gretel in Hansel und Gretel in Edmonton, Alberta with OperaNUOVA. Other professional credits include: Jenny Hildebrand in Street Scene, Mrs. Jenks in The Tender Land, and creating the role of Grace for the premiere of The Midnight Court with Queen of Puddings Music Theatre, in Toronto. Kelly also enjoys sharing her knowledge and experience through teaching private singing lessons out of her home in Squamish, BC, and as the director of the community choirs: The Sound Youth Chorus and The Sound Children’s Chorus. She has also worked with the Quest University choir and presented a workshop and Masterclass on “Vocal Health the Secrets of Singing.”

Laurel Parsons - Piano

Before coming to Quest in 2009, Laurel Parsons taught music theory and/or aural skills at the University of British Columbia, the University of Oregon, Kwantlen University College and, most recently, Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario. At Queen's, she served as faculty advisor for all first-year music students, and the School of Music student body named her the department's "Best Professor" for 2007-08.
Laurel's dissertation involved historical, literary and musical analysis of 20th-century British composer Elisabeth Lutyens's opera The Numbered. During her Ph.D. studies at UBC, she was awarded a 3-year Doctoral Fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and was recognized for excellence in teaching upper-level music theory classes with a UBC Graduate Teaching Award.
Throughout her years of dissertation research, Laurel was struck by the lack of attention paid to music by composers who happen to be female. As a result, she is currently writing and co-editing a book of analytical essays on music by women composers. In recent years, she has also become fascinated by the representation of Inuit culture and the Arctic in Canadian concert music, and considers her voyage 300 km north of the Arctic Circle to the University of Tromsø in Norway to deliver a presentation on this subject the highlight of her international-conference-paper-delivering career. Other interests include the neuroscience of music, music and medicine, and the relations between music and language.
As well as teaching music and humanities courses at Quest, Laurel conducts the choir and looks forward to establishing instrumental groups as the student body continues to grow.
Outside of Quest, Laurel enjoys serving as Chair of the North Vancouver Community Arts Council. But her favourite non-Quest activity is spending summers with her husband, four children and Labrador retriever on beautiful Savary Island, collecting beach glass, hiking the trails and obsessively doing 1000-piece jigsaw puzzles.

Sarah Hagen, Pianist

Photos from this Past Event

Please join us for two HSPAA Events this Weekend:

Sarah Hagan, Pianist, In Concert

Saturday November 5th, 8pm at St. John Anglican Church

Sarah Hagan Master Class

Sunday November 6, 2pm at Squamish Academy of MusicParticipants Gr. 5 piano and higher: $35; Or $10 to Audit.
Please note the venue has changed and is now taking place at Squamish Academy of Music - 38121 Second Ave.

Sarah Hagan, Pianist, In Concert

Saturday, November 5th at 8pm

Where

St. John Anglican Church, Squamish

Tickets

$20 for Adults
$15 for Seniors
$5 for Students 18 and over
Free for Youth under 18

About Sarah Hagen

"A rarity of musical excellence, technical ease and tonal purity," pianist Sarah Hagen is a sought-after soloist and chamber musician, performing in concerts across Canada as well as in the United States, France, Italy, Germany and Sweden. Her interpretations have been described as "outstandingly inventive," performed with "infinite skill."

A visionary and an idealist, Sarah's performances are conceptually innovative, involving photography, couture and theatre. She is the Artistic Director for Pro'ject Sound, a performance project involving live piano with large-scale projected images. She is also an avid collaborator, reveling in the friendships and stimulation that abound in chamber music. As a concert presenter and producer, Miss Hagen frequently hosts world class performers from Europe, Australia and the United States. In 2006 she was awarded as the Comox Valley's Cultural Ambassador of the Year. She has been on faculty at the Comox Valley Youth Music Centre for over 10 years, performing in the CYMC Summer Festival with Russell Bajer, Charles Inkman and Victor Costanzi, among others. While Sarah travels regularly for performances in Europe, she also delights in playing with the premier Canadian ensemble, Trio Accord.

Miss Hagen has been heard on Swedish Radio 2, CBC's West Coast Performance, Alberta CBC's Sunday Arts Programme, WDAV (North Carolina) WOSU (Ohio), KFUO (Missouri), CKUA (Edmonton), WKAR (Michigan), WITF (Pennsylvania), 98.1 KING FM (Seattle) and has appeared on Bravo Television. Her solo album, Glass House Dancing, was nominated for a 2009 Western Canadian Music Award in the category of Classical Recording of the Year.

Sarah's motivation is the belief that music has the power to be a window into our souls regardless of age or knowledge. She currently makes her home and studio in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Spirit of Squeamish

Local students serve up tricks and treats of Halloween-inspired music and dance.

This eerily good concert is a fundraiser for the Access Music Education Fund (AME), a scholarship program offered by the HSPAA to Squamish students K-Gr. 12 to pursue studies in the Performing Arts. Check out www.howesoundarts.ca for more details.

When

Friday, October 28th at 7 PM

Where

Eagle Eye Theatre, Squamish

Tickets

Admission by Donation

Thank you to our sponsors!

A non-profit society that fosters the Arts cannot exist without its members, volunteers and sponsors. Here is a list of our current sponsors, to whom we are extremely grateful: